


No Honor Among Thieves (Unless Youre Clarke Griffin)

by Of_Frost_and_Fire



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Leverage Fusion, Alternate Universe - Thieves, Con Artists, F/M, Team as Family, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-26
Updated: 2015-02-09
Packaged: 2018-03-09 03:56:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,839
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3235409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Of_Frost_and_Fire/pseuds/Of_Frost_and_Fire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"The rich and powerful, they take what they want. We steal it back for you. Sometimes bad guys make the best good guys. We provide… leverage.” <br/>Clarke was not a thief. She paid her taxes, always used the crosswalk and would be the first to say that she was under charged. She was a good girl. Until one day, the day her employer looked the other way, she realized that the good guys don't always win. She realized that she was tired of the good guys, the people who followed the rules, losing to those who manipulated them. She was going to level the playing field and Bellamy Blake was going to help her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The New Job

**Author's Note:**

> *The first couple of chapter will mirror the show Leverage for readers who haven't seen the show. For those who have, I hope you enjoy. Also I have split the job of 'mastermind and grifter' between Clarke and Bellamy to show that they are co-leaders much like in the 100. Enjoy!

She didn’t even like martinis. The blonde stared at her glass, fingers playing with the toothpick the brutally speared the olives for this little concoction. Why did she order this? Right, she didn’t. Some Armani tailored man thought it would be cute to hit on her, buy her a drink then asked why she looked so angry. He didn’t like her rather sarcastic response and walked away. Fifteen minutes later she was still in the bar of the Hyatt hotel, waiting for the nearest exit out of here. She wore her usual attire, black slacks, pumps, a blue button up blouse. Her jacket was thrown over the chair next to her with her purse. Nobody would’ve guessed she came here to get away from everything.

Did she even know how to not work?

“Ma’am? I checked, the next shuttle to the airport leaves in twenty minutes.” The bartender gave her a smile and walked back to where ever he came from before. At ten in the morning, no one was exactly drinking besides her. She ran her fingers through her blonde waves, leaning her elbow on the bar top. She just needed to get back to Manhattan, get her assets and accounts checked out and figure out her next step.

Maybe she could just sit behind a desk now.

No, she would probably quit a week into it.

“Ms. Griffin? Sorry--” She watched as a pair of large hands placed a suit jacket and briefcase on the bar next to her, following the motion with her eyes until she gazed at the man her interrupted her much coveted thinking time. He was crew cut Asian man, all sharp angles with the exception of pursed lips, a look of dissatisfaction clear as day on his face. He offered his hand to her and she shook it hesitantly. By the looks of him, he was definitely a business man. His tie was perfectly aligned with his button up, his jacket was dry cleaned and his briefcase was real leather by the stitching.

“Can I help you with something?” she asked. He cleared his throat. Not a part of her usual group of straight forward men. He took a minute and got settled into the seat on the other side of her purse, thankfully didn’t try to move her things to situate himself.

“Yes, Ive actually heard a lot about you. How you recovered that Monet back in 2006? You saved your insurance company over $35 million?”

She took a sip of her martini, her troubles from moments ago returning as he mentioned her old employer as of four months ago.

“And that stolen identity case in Florence, I couldn’t believe the amount of money you--”

Clarke held up her hand to him, he paused. “Mister…?”

“Oh, Terry Shumway.” He flashed her a good smile and she sighed.

“Mr. Shumway, I have a shuttle to catch. Is there a particular reason why you’re here today?” she asked politely. Her eyes met his and she watched his smile drop and a look of panic flashed over his features.

“Well, I also heard about how you’ve always been there for your company but when you needed them most they weren’t there for you. Your family must be--”

Clarke stepped off her barstool, grabbing her purse on the way down as well as her jacket. The bitterness in her heart made anger flash in her blue eyes. She didn’t bother to give him a look, simply walked past him. She didn’t need any of that today. She just needed to get to her flight so she could check how much the hospital bills took out of her savings. No business men. No insurance clients. No, this was her getting away from all that.

“Mrs. Griffin!” The man jogged out in front of her, almost tripping over the decorative chair in the lounge. She glared at him, crossing her arms. He put his hands up in a gesture of defense, his face showing his regret in his words. “Look, I’m sorry. I just meant that I have a job for you.”  

Her brow furrowed, “I’m listening.”

“Do you know anything about airplane designs?” he asked, looking a little more at ease. She should just be walked out of here but honestly, she needed the money. Her employer robbed her family blind and she was short on funds for rent. Even insurance detectives needed side jobs sometimes.

Clarke gave the man a look, lips thinned.

“You have a piece of lined paper?” she asked, her sarcasm was not lost on him. He shook his head and sighed.

“Someone stole my airplane designs. Very valuable designs.”

She smiled humorlessly and nodded, “And you want me to find them.”

“No, no, I know who they are. I know who took them.” He said, his posture straightened a bit in his ire. She could see his hands form into fists and there was the look in his eyes that she saw in Olympic runners who can’t quiet beat the other guy. A mix of competitiveness and hatred. She shrugged her shoulders.

“What do you want me to do?” she asked.

Shumway stepped closer to her, as if there was anyone besides the mysterious disappearing bartender who could hear them. He looked her dead in the eye, his lips still pursed. She wondered if he knew the look he gave with that expression but she forced her eyes to his own.

“I need you to steal them back.”

Before she knew it, she found herself sitting at a corner table of the room, his briefcase open with several files stacked and pictures strewn about. She looked at the photo of the older man, no longer than what her father must’ve been. He had a CEO kind of smile in this photo, political so she knew it was probably taken off the internet and blown up for her benefit.

“You’re sure that it’s him?” she asked. The man nodded,

“My engineer goes missing with all my files and a week later Kingsley launches an identical project? Its him.”

“Mr. Shumway, there are probably much easier ways to do this besides stealing--”

“I have a shareholders meeting, Ms. Griffin. Ive spent over $200 million and if I go there empty handed, I’m a dead man.” He looked at her with pleading eyes, his fingers laced on the table either as a nervous gesture or a praying one, she wasn’t sure.

Clarke leaned back in her seat, her arms crossed under her breasts. The man quickly began to flip through the stack of manila folders inside his brief case before pulling out one, opening it up. He held it out for her, opened to the first couple of documents. She glanced at them and quickly noticed that they were personnel sheets, all containing priors and history. No pictures or mug shots, no these guys were too good for that. She took the folder, flipping through the papers.

“This is who I’ve already got. Do you recognize any of the names?” he asked, his voice hopeful.

Her brow furrowed. Oh yeah, she knew them. She just didn’t know why these criminals would want to work with some CEO of a minor airplane company. She understood that he held lots of power in the stock market but this was a bit minuscule compared to the amount of talent. She glanced up at him briefly.

“Yeah, Ive been after each of them once or twice.” She mumbled, her eyes scanning information and names. She paused and her corner of her mouth twitched.

“Bellamy Blake.” She shook her head with a smile. Shumway gave her a confused look.

“You know him?”

Clarke didn’t answer just moved on to the next one. She paused at the next criminal and gave him a look, her dead panned face made him glance at the paper in her hand nervously.

“Murphy? You got Murphy?” Her displeasure was in her voice.

“You have someone better?” His question was not smug but a genuine need for clarification that he had hired the best of the best. This guy was desperate if he was playing with fire like this lot.

“Murphy is insane.” She said seriously.

“That’s why I need you.” His hand touched hers and he looked at her as if she was the key to his salvation. She glanced at the folders again before moving her hand away to close it. The ex-insurance investigator placed it back on table, leaning forward on her elbows so that he really got it through his head this time.

“No,” she said sternly, “I’m not a thief.”

“I don’t need thieves, thieves I got. I just need a good honest person,” he held her gaze, “to watch them.”

He said it as if it were the easiest thing in the world, as if they were dogs and he was going out of town. They were criminals with rap sheets half a mile long. She had been at the tail end of their crimes and she didn’t like the look of them from there either. Shumway was gambling with them and he knew it. He also must’ve realized her own rap sheet and decided that an ex-investigator with a lack of funds must need something to do.

“Theres no way this is going to work.” She said, her eyes leaving his to glance at the master plan that was thrown across the table like she was back in college with a midterm, “All of them have one thing in common. They all work alone. There is no way that they are going to work for you.”

“They will, they will. For $300,000 each, they will.”

That caught her attention. She put her chin in her hand, gazing at the man who seemed to be in more of a bind than she was. At this point she was picking up the pieces of the aftermath. A $300,000 pay check on a side job while looking for another would help. Shumway leaned forward again, at one point he had rolled up the sleeves of his button up to his elbows. Dark eyes met hers.

“Look, for running it, I’ll double it for you. I’m desperate here, Ms. Griffin.” He whined, moaned, did that sad frown with his mouth that made her compassionate heart twitch, “And that’s just the salary, there’s a bonus. Kingsley is insured by IYS, your old bosses. There is a $50 million intellectual property rights policy on these designs.”

Clarke leaned forward, her business exterior was replaced with a deep need at the very core of her. She had been intrigued, but now…

Shumway kept her steely blue gaze, “Ms. Griffin, how badly do you want to stick it to the insurance company that let your father die?”

His words hung in the air and for a moment she wanted to walk away. This was not her. She caught guys like this. But she knew that she would rarely have an opportunity like this if she played by the rules. She leaned back in her chair and picked up the manila folder again, crossing her legs and got comfortable.

Jasper Jordan and Monty Green.

A package deal and probably the largest threat to national security. They had been running amuck of the system for years. Between Jordan’s identity fraud and illegal document trade to Monty’s ability to hack into anything with a hard drive, they were both very good and very dangerous in the wrong hands. From her own experience they were on the younger side, no older than twenty-four and both of them had more fun stealing video game designs and buying tickets with fake amounts than anything truly terrible.

Raven Reyes.

She was a renowned thief. She broken into the Louvre, the Metropolitan, the Smithsonian, multiple million dollar banks and could break into any system or safe in the world. She had sticky fingers but always did her best at nights when she had less people interaction. While the two computer nerds were a bit awkward, Reyes rather not deal with people in general. She had quite the reputation and it was getting longer. Half the time, Clarke thought Reyes tried to find the best kept objects just to see if she could break in. Has yet to fail.

John Murphy.

Ex-military and special ops. Wiped his slate clean a couple years ago and never looked back. He was the hit man. He might not be the biggest guy in the room but he was one the guys who planned on being underestimated. He had been hired by multiple mob bosses, corrupt CEO’s out on business. He was the guy you called when you needed back up of the worst kind or needed something back bad enough to put everyone in the game in danger. He was a survivalist and was an excellent marksmen.

And Bellamy Blake.

She had spent years following him. They’ve always ran into each other all over, where her insurance company had a client. He was the con artist or as he would call it ‘retrieval specialist’. He came up out of blue, a normal blue collared citizen but that’s what made him dangerous. No one ever saw him coming. He did whatever necessary to get his mark, a thief of few talents. He was calculating and smart not to mention a fighter. She’s been to multiple sites where she had seen the handy work. His cons were swift and to the point, get in, get out, get paid. He didn’t work well with others and tended to get a bit cocky just never enough to get caught.

“No paper trail?” she asked. Shumway smiled.

“No paper trail, off the books.”

“Guess I’ll be babysitting then.”


	2. The One Time Job

“Jasper,” The blonde opened the laptop, the top floor of the building they ‘occupied’ was empty for the night and that meant more room for her. The room dark with the exception of her laptop and a couple other devices. The night sky and the skyscraper that stood as tall the money stacks it made glared at them from across the street.

“Got it.” With a quick plug in and switch, the projector took the blue prints of their mark to a whole new level, a 3D moveable image of all the inner workings and set up of the building that housed the stolen deigns. Clarke placed in her ear piece, the microphone reaching toward her mouth while it hooked around her ear.

“You guys set up?” she asked, another couple of clicks by the boy genius and the image moved, showing the many levels until it got to the main floor with the computer engineering systems. Instantly, the small red blinking lights indicated the motion detectors and alarms on the floor.

_‘Where did you get these? The 80’s having a garage sale?’_

Clarke rolled her eyes while Jasper snickered.

“Monty, just put them on. No surprises okay?” Clarke warned.

\--

Bellamy smirked at her tone. He’s heard that tone before, that was the ‘no funny business’ tone, the ‘I’m on the job’ tone. Clarke Griffin was the last person he expected to see on this job, especially recruited to run the heist. The insurance investigator had been a pain in his ass for over four years, one of the few that has given him a run for his money. Literally sometimes. When he first saw the stubborn blonde, she was grifting, easily gathering and implanting intel with people had coned himself. She followed the trail to him and that was first time that he ever thought he might have been caught. He got away empty handed.

Since then had been a series of retrieval jobs turned deals. He would help if he was in the right place at the right time and she would look the other way unless it directly affected her investigation. She was smart but she was also one of those people who was genuinely a good person. Which made it awkward when he, well, wanted to be bad. He unzipped his vest, shedding it so that he could move easier in his black t-shirt. He dropped it next to Monty, letting him worry about the technical stuff while he just worried about getting in.

The hacker glared at the ear pieces the ex-investigator had given them shaking his head. Bellamy knew that Clarke was not as tech savvy as she’d like to think. While he relied on himself for most of his work, people like Jordan, Green and Reyes relied on their equipment. Which meant Green was not too proud of what kind of tech they’d be sporting.

“I got something nicer.” Monty smiled, picking up a clear container. The boy turned to them, holding it open, “It’s a bone conduction ear piece mic. It’ll pick upon the vibrations in your jaw. You can hear everything."

Bellamy was quick to reach for one, the thrill of the job made its way from his head to his toes. He would be lying if he said this was all for the money. Over the years he found the fun in these cons. At first they were just a way to get food on the table but when he started getting good, when he became untouchable, that’s when he kinda started to enjoy it. He placed the small clear ear bud in his ear, his dark usually unhindered curls were slicked back this time and away from his face.

He could easily hear Griffin mumbling the plan to herself under her breath.

“Hear that, princess? You’re out dated.” A smirk came to his lips and he could hear the sigh on the other side from their commander for the night. Monty turned and held out the box to Murphy. He was a bit smaller than he imagined but Bellamy knew better than to base everything on looks alone. Something criminals learn right off the bat if they wanted to stay alive, or out of prison.

The hitter took an ear piece, placing it in his ear. He was dressed in black as well, casually with a plain black beanie that kept back his hair. Murphy gave the hacker a look, “So you’re not as useless as you look.”

Monty glared at him, “I don’t even know what you do.”

The brute gave him a glare right back, taking a step toward him when Bellamy shot his hand out, catching the guy on the chest. The last thing they needed was to have the only guy who was tapped into the alarm systems knocked out on the roof. He raised his eyebrows at Murphy, daring him to try something. Luckily the man just shook him off and kneeled to make sure everything in his black bag was where it was supposed to be.

Monty let out a breath moving back to his own bag to retrieve his laptop, obviously relieved that he didn’t need to confront the man who could probably kill him with one hand behind his back. Bellamy clipped the black knife to the strap around his right thigh, he never did a job without some kind of weapon just in case things went south.

His dark eyes raised to the tanned woman sitting on top of the pulley she had put together, her black converse swinging while she strapped on her harness, her clothes blended her into the night along with the rest of them from the top of her long dark ponytail to the tips of her toes. The thief flipped easily around the pulley so that she was upside down in front of the hacker, her ponytail brushing his keboard.

“Can I have one?” she asked, she flashed a white smile. Reyes was famous, her hits were squeaky clean and there was almost no paper trail on her unless someone had an up and personal encounter with her. She was about the cash not the con. She didn’t fool around and was never at someone’s hire, until now.

Monty swallowed hard and nodded, holding out the box for her.

“You can have the whole box.” He mumbled.

“What are you gonna do when she finds out you live with your mom?” Murphy quipped with a smirk. Bellamy couldn’t help but chuckle.

Monty sighed and dropped the container back into his bag, getting back to his laptop while ignoring to the two thieves smirking at his expense, “I don’t like any of you.” He mumbled, his fingers quickly going to work.

_“You guys done?”_

“Waiting on you, Clarke.” Blake said, heading toward the roof entrance.

Murphy raised an eyebrow, “First name basis?”

_“Focus. On my count.”_

Reyes gave a pull at her wire, the harness taking most of the weight, elevated on her pulley system to give her an angle. She leaned back to test it, smiling as she ran her leather clad fingers over the clip.

“This rig reminds me of Paris, 2003.” She said in memory, a small smile played at her lips. Monty gave her a look before going back to his screen with a smile of his own. Bellamy knew a thing or two about what these kind of guys did. Setting the security cameras on loop was the easy part, deactivating the alarm system for the likes of Monty Green was easy too. But Reyes would be on her own with the pressure detectors.

 _“The Corbascio? You stole that?”_ Griffin’s voice pierced his ear drum.

Murphy tapped his ear with a sneer, “Are these things even safe?”

Monty shrugged at his question and looked up as if in thought, “Yeah its completely safe…well…nausea, weakness in your right side, stroke…strokie-ness….”

The hitter glared at the computer geek and turned to Blake, “This is exactly why I work alone.”

“Just got to get through one job, Murphy.” He replied giving the guy a slap on the shoulder for a good measure.

 _“Okay, on my count. Reyes, no freelancing.”_ Clarke’s voice interrupted the moment.

Bellamy pressed a finger to the ear bud, “We know what we’re doing, princess.”

_“On. My. Count. Blake. Five….four…”_

“Guess she doesn’t want to be friends.” Monty chuckled, setting his part into play.

_“Five. Four. Three.”_

“Losers.” Raven smirked. With a yell of excitement, the black clad thief ran toward the edge of the building, launching herself off the ledge and into the air. The rope on her harness pulled at the wheel it was hooked to, giving her lead as she free fell down the side of the building.

“Reyes is gone.” Bellamy stated as he and Murphy ran to the edge, watching the thin figure fall until the measured rope pulled to slow stop in front of one of the many windows on the skyscraper. He had to hand it to her, she almost reviled Murphy with her amount of crazy in that small package.

 _“Son of a bitch.”_ Clarke swore, _“Okay everyone into position. Monty.”_

“Got it.” The hacker replied, “Camera’s are on loop and I have sights the surveillance room.”

_“Good. Blake?”_

Bellamy and Murphy were quick to make it back to their posts, throwing open the latch to the building’s elevator shaft. The hitter threw the large duffel bag into down metal latter incased in darkness before following it with Bellamy close behind.

“Headed down.” Bellamy replied, letting go of the latter with one hand to grab a glow stick from his pocket. With a hard crack against the latter, the darkness was penetrated by an eerie green glow.

_“Reyes, how are you doing?”_

“Inside.” The thief replied.

Despite the vibration detectors, which Reyes was sort of relieved that aeronautics company wasn’t going to make this a total cake walk, she gotten inside with a carefully hand and some binary. The paste burnt a nice sized hole through the glass giving her easy access when she released the clip from her harness.

The thief found the main frame of the elevators easily, tucking herself into the small closet sized space to hook up Jaspers device to the hard drive. The small hand held screen lit up the moment it synced with the mechanics, all elevator controls were now in her hands.

“Im hooked in.” she spoke over the com.

_“Lets get them down there.”_

“Sometime today.” Murphy grumbled, both him and Blake stood on top of the south elevator, waiting for their trip down to the main lab.

“Don’t fall off.” Reyes glared at the screen before setting the elevator for its next destination.

-

The elevator under the duo jerked before starting its way down to their destination. The main software lab was on the fourteenth floor and with a twenty three story building, the thief had to get in and control the elevators without letting the guards see them moving. Just another screen on a loop in the security room. Bellamy waited for the metal box to come to a halt before unlatching the escape hatch to the top of the car. With ease, the two men jumped into the elevator as the doors dinged open.

 _“You have the decoder?”_ Jaspers voice came over the com. Bellamy took the duffel bag from Murphy and pulled out what looked like a large calculator attached to a card with a single strip down the side.

“Yeah I got it.” He replied.

 _“Okay get to the door, there will be a pad lock with a slot for IDs. Stick the card into it and let the machine do its work.”_ He could practically hear the pride in the boy’s voice.

Bellamy handed the duffel back to Murphy as they made their way down the hall and to the right, the elevator doors stayed open for their escape. The door stuck out from the rest of the floor, a bolted steel with no handle surrounded by storage cages with prototype pieces, file boxes and doorways that lead to more secrets that they didn’t bother putting into the system. As soon as he put the fake card into the lock, the machine lit up in his hands. Ten green numbers changed quickly while the device began to crack the password to get in.

Murphy put his back to him, looking out at the way they came. The right turn they made into the hall made it easier to protect but hopefully they would be in and out in a couple of minutes.

 _“Clarke, how many guards are on duty?”_ Monty’s voice said in his ear, it was filled with something akin to mild panic.

_“Eight.”_

_“I only see four.”_ The hacker cursed under his breath, _“They’re doing their rounds an hour early! Why the hell--”_

“The playoffs.” Bellamy answered, watching as one of the numbers stopped its rapid changing to show that it had cracked one digit. “It’s the playoffs tonight and Jasper what is wrong with this thing?”

_“Its takes time!”_

“We don’t have time or haven’t you noticed?” Murphy growled, eyes watching their backs.

 _“Shit guys, they noticed the elevator stuck on the fourteenth floor. They’re coming your way.”_ Reyes voice was in a panic now.

Bellamy hit the side of the device as it cracked another number, only eight more fucking numbers to go. This is why he did not rely on technology. People were easier, face to face theft with some credit card numbers and well placed off shore accounts. That’s the way he worked. Putting the job in the hands of a device that may or may not work was a risk that he was not willing to take.

“This fucking thing….come on!” Bellamy growled.

 _“South elevator is on your floor.”_ Reyes informed over the com.

 _“And they’re armed.”_ Monty piped up.

“Great, this is why I work alone,” Murphy cursed.

 _“Guys calm down. Murphy I want you to clear the zone, use Blake as bait.”_ Clarke instructed, her voice not even hesitating despite her rather traitorous words.

“Bait?” Bellamy hissed, looking over at Murphy. The guy was already taking off his jacket, heading around the corner leaving him looking red handed, “I am no one’s bait, princess.”

 _“They’re close, Blake.”_ Monty warned.

“Fuck, come on.” He cursed, slapping his callused hand against the side of it again. Six more numbers to go. This was not how he wanted this to go down. This was supposed to be an in and out job, Griffin was supposed to make sure of that and now she was calling for his capture. His dark eyes watched the numbers spin, waiting for them to stop so that the damn door would open.

He could hear the foot steps down the hall, the echoing voices as the men tried to get through to the other guards with their coms. Luckily he knew that Monty had taken care of all that except for the decoder in his hands was a piece of junk. He grunted it, letting go of the device so that it hung off the lock pad.

“Screw this, I’m done.” Bellamy grabbed the duffel off the floor, shoving Murphy’s jacket from it as he took a couple steps toward the way they came.

“Freeze!”

The thief looked up just as four security guards set up in formation in front of him, blocking the only exit down the hall. Four clicks echoed around him, each gun barrel pointed at him and ready to fire with any sudden move. He glared at them before rolling his eyes and putting his hands up in the air, letting the bag drop to the ground. He flashed his best worried, innocent face at them.

“Look, I’m just checking that everything--”

Bellamy caught his words, pausing his charade just as Murphy came from around the corner behind the four guards. There was a flash of what looked like amusement in the man’s eyes before any of them noticed he was even there. Like flipping a switch, the situation changed. Murphy grabbed one of the guy’s hands that held his gun, before planting a well-placed punch into his solar plexus. As the man asked for air, he squeezed the trigger and fired but Murphy still had his hand on his wrist so it was all too easy to jerk the gun in the direction of the other guard rushing to help.

It was like a well-staged choreography. Murphy made quick work of each guard, mostly disarming them or using shitty aim against the other. In under two minutes, each guard was unconscious thought two had sizable bullet wounds in the shoulder and leg. Bellamy was surprised that the man didn’t kill anyone. It was one of Clarke's rules in this heist but still. It was Murphy.

The hitter smirked and looked at the security camera he knew that Monty was watching, pointing at it.

“That’s what I do.” Murphy said proudly.

A sharp beep turned both men back to the matter at hand, the compression steel door popped open as the device finished cracking the ID code. They didn’t say a word to each other, just a look before they both headed for the door. The inside of it was filled with towering hard drives the size of filing cabinets, each lit up and connecting to a single monitor. Stock market dependent companies tended to hide their most precious things in such rooms.

Bellamy and Murphy smirked.

 _“Guys, I need you to talk to me.”_ Clarke’s voice rang through their coms.

“We’re in,” Bellamy replied, plucking the flash drive from his pocket and placing it into the side of the monitor. A window opened, filled with scrolling code as it took everything from the hard drives including the stolen designs. Murphy took it upon himself to drag the crumpled unconscious bodies of the guards into the cramped room, laying them side by side. Of course not before he duck taped their wrists and mouths. Bellamy watched the monitor until the window disappeared and in its place was another separate window with the words ‘No Files’ flashed at him.

“Got it.” He said, “Now what?”

 _“Take the other drive I gave you and replace the one you used.”_ Jasper said over the com, the thief could hear the smile in his voice.

He took out the flash drive with the information and pocketed it in a different pocket before taking the smaller drive and placing it into the monitor. A window popped up before the screen began to flicker out. Each hard drive around them began to flicker before shutting down, leaving the once glowing room in darkness.

“A virus?” Murphy said with a smirk, looking at him own handy work with the guard.

 _“More than one virus, my friend.”_ The nerd replied.

 _“Problem,”_ Reyes interrupted over the com, _“The security reset all the alarms inside the elevators and stalled the system. We cant go up.”_

Murphy exited the room and grabbed the duffel bag, throwing the duck tape back inside.

“Every man for himself.” He said swiftly, heading back down the hall.

“I’m the one with the merchandise.” Bellamy rolled his eyes, tossing the brute a glare.

 _“I’m the one with the alarms!”_ Monty chimed in.

 _“And I’m the one with fucking exit.”_ Reyes argued.

 _“I’m the one with the plan.”_ Clarke stated, her voice clear and direct. _“I know you children don’t play well together but we need to hold it together. Now head to the elevator. We’re going the burn scam. Monty I need you to use the extra harness and get to the ground. Jasper shut it down.”_

They all moved without question, each knowing their jobs. Despite never working in a team, Bellamy noticed that they took order when under pressure, even himself though it didn’t happen often. They headed back to the elevator quickly, getting in and pressing the button for the first floor. Murphy dropped the duffel bag and began to pull out their new clothes.

“Going to plan ‘b’, princess?” Bellamy asked, sliding on a pair of fake glasses. Murphy tied his hair back.

 _“Technically this would be plan ‘g’.”_ Clarke replied, they could hear her closing up cases and Jasper shuffling around.

By the time they got to Reyes floor, both were in button down shirts and slacks, ties and blazers. Old clothes were underneath but hidden with a look of professionalism. Raven stepped onto the elevator and began to strip as well, pulling on her own disguise of proper office wear from her own large purse.

“How many plans do we have? Is there a plan ‘m’?” Raven asked as Murphy pulled out a blue Velcro leg brace from his duffel, kneeling to slide it around Raven’s bare calf. He grumbled as he had to press his face into the side of her knee length skirt to keep her steady.

 _“Monty dies in plan ‘m’.”_ Clarke commented, a car starting in the background.

“I like plan ‘m’.” Murphy stated. Bellamy placed the latex burn onto Raven’s cheek as Murphy held out the liquid adhesive for him.

 _“Clarke do you hear him?!”_ Monty said over the com.

“Hold still.” Bellamy hissed as Raven jerked to pull her hair out of its pony tail, the black tresses falling around her shoulders. It was a sharp contrast to the light grey of her suit jacket.

“I’m trying.”

With the last ‘ding’ of the elevator, the doors opened like a curtain. Both men slapped on concerned faces as Raven hobbled out of the elevator on her fold out cane with a look of pain. The duffel bag was carried over Murphy’s shoulder with a sticker that said ‘MEDICAL’ on the side while Bellamy held her purse with one hand on her arm to ‘steady’ the burn survivor.

The lobby security gaped, covering the gun he readied at his waist. Murphy glared him.

“What cha staring for? Whats wrong with you?” he hollered angrily as Bellamy ushered Raven to the door.

“S-Sorry, I didn’t mean--” the baby faced guard blushed in embarrassment.

“It’s okay, Bob..” Raven sniffed, “I’m used to it.”

“Get the door.” Bellamy ordered indignantly.

The security guard held open the door for the three of them, the men allowing the victim to walk through first before rushing to her aid. As soon as they heard the door click clothes behind them, a silver Lexus pulled up to the curb. Murphy glanced behind them and watched as the security turned his back to the door to take a tongue lashing from another concerned officer.

“Go, go..” Murphy hissed.

Raven threw her cane to Bellamy who took the front seat as Murphy ran around the car. Within seconds the thieves were in and out without a trace left behind.

\--

“Whats taking so long?” Murphy growled.

“Hold on, I’m going.” Jasper snapped back.

All six of them stood around the middle of the park, the tree around them couldn’t shade the way the sky began to light up as the sun rose in the early morning. Jasper typed away as Clarke tucked her hands into the pockets of her peacoat. She ignored the looks she felt from Bellamy. She honestly didn’t want to hear it.

“Annnddd….the designs are sent.” Jasper said with a grin, Monty gave him a high five as he closed his laptop.

“Good, the money will be in your accounts later today.” Clarke said, turning her back to the group.

“Anybody noticed how awesome we were last night?” Monty said, looking between them all as they turned their backs as well.

“One show only, no encores.” Murphy rolled his eyes, passing a glare at them all.

“I already forgot your names,” Raven replied with a smirk of her own.

Bellamy grabbed Clarke by the wrist stopping her from walking away from him, all the others stopped to watch the exchange. Mostly intrigued by their dynamic. Nobody had a chance to ask how the two knew each other or why they seemed to tolerate the other.

“How was it, princess? Being on the same side?” He smirked, dark eyes twinkled with mischief.

The blonde ex-investigator glared at him, pulling her wrist out of his grip but not backing down from his towering over her,

“We are not on the same side, I am not a thief.”

“You are now,” Murphy commented with a chuckle.

“It must feel good. Being the black queen instead of the white knight.” Bellamy teased.

Clarke sent a glare over her shoulder, blue eyes sparked the way he remembered every time she was on the job. Her blonde waves around her shoulders, her lips pursed with displeasure.

“I’ll still take you to jail, Blake.”

Bellamy only laughed before they all went their separate ways.

They worked alone.


	3. The Recon Job

She groaned, the obnoxious beeping from the bed stand made her head pound. She didn’t open her eyes, her hand flung out from under the covers, fingers feeling around the short desk. The blonde slapped the hotel alarm when she realized the beeping was actually ringing. Pale fingers searched for her cell phone, refusing to pop her head out from under the cotton sheets. She drank way too much the other night. Upside she forgot she was criminal with no job and a dead father.

Silver linings and all.

Her fingers fell on the device, pulling it under the blankets and sliding the arrow on the screen with one motion.

“Hello?” she practically groaned out. Her voice was scratchy, her head throbbed. Her pillow smelled of hair spray and that fake clean hotel scent that clung to everything in her room.

“You screwed me!”

She winced, pulling the phone away from her ear. She pushed herself up out of the covers so that she was resting her back against the head board.

“What are you talking about?” she hissed, closing her eyes to the sunlight that streamed in from behind the white hotel curtains.

“I didn’t get anything! Nothing! My shareholders meeting was a fucking nightmare because of you!” Shumway’s harsh and panicked voice yelled through the receiver. Clarke rand her hand through her hair, tangled curls caught her fingers as she thought back to the night before.

“That’s impossible, I watching it be sent.” She replied. She watched Jasper download the information on his flash drive to the laptop, watched him email the designs to Shumway’s personal address. It happened and there was no way that Jasper and Monty would’ve went through all that trouble to just steal information that was already stolen prior. Its didn’t make sense when their payday was a click away.

“I don’t know what you saw, Ms. Griffin, but I didn’t get my designs.”

“I told you that you couldn’t trust them.” She sighed.

“It is not my job to trust them! It was your job to make sure I got my end of the deal! I am freezing the payments! Do you hear me, Griffin?”

Clarke pushed the covers off her, stepping onto the carpet and headed for the bathroom. She needed that money. Regardless of how crappy she felt about how she went about getting it, she was currently unemployed and swimming in funeral expenses and medical bills. She pushed open the door of the bathroom and headed straight to the shower.

“Mr. Shumway, I need you to calm down. We can talk this through. I’ll come over to your office and--”

“No no, you can not come here! Do not come here! My company has an old airbase just outside the city that is out of use. I’ll text you the address and you better be there in an hour, Ms. Griffin.”

The angry CEO didn’t give her a chance to confirm as the line went dead. Clarke put the phone onto the counter, looking away from the sink and into the mirror as the shower ran. Tired blue eyes looked back at her, her face was pale from lack of sleep as of the last few months. Her hair was a mess from the tossing and turning, she was still in her clothes from the night before.

The night she broke the law and was robbed by two computer nerds.

“I need a hobby.”

 

Clarke showered and changed into new clothes, this time she remembered that she did something other than skirt suits. She forgot how comfortable a good pair of jeans were but she wasn’t ready to go cold turkey so she wore a black blouse and a black, quarter sleeve suit jacket over it. The heels of her black boots clicked and echoed in the empty airbase. The sunlight barely streamed in from the high broken out windows, large crates and old parts made the place into more of an abandoned warehouse maze.

The ex-investigator paused at the sound of other voices echoing in the room, familiar voices that made her brow furrow.

“Where’s my money?”

“You better not be pointing that gun at me, mama’s boy.”

“You took it--”

“How could I have taken it? You had the lap top so where the fuck is my money?”

“Blake was the last one with the drive. So what did you do?”

“Cool it Monty, if I wanted the drive I would’ve been gone before Jasper tried to send it.”

Clarke stepped around the corner, her cohorts stood looking at each other with tensions high. Jasper had a shaky gun pointed at Murphy who looked more pissed off and annoyed than afraid. Monty stood on Jasper’s right with a stern glare at both Murphy and Blake. She knew that Bellamy was not one to not get paid for his services so the crease in his brow and the set of his jaw was a normal look he wore when things did not go as planned.

“Hey!” she called out, walking toward them. Jasper turned and pointed the gun at her. All eyes looked her up and down as if trying to figure out if she could’ve hidden the money somewhere on her body.

Murphy was the first to scowl, “She probably did it. She’s the only one who plays both sides.”

Clarke rolled her eyes, “And I’m also the only one who doesn’t have a criminal record.”

Jasper turned the gun back to the hitter who rolled his eyes and shoved his hands into his leather jacket. The blonde looked him over and raised an eyebrow at him as she crossed her arms.

“You look pretty calm for a guy who has a gun pointed at him.” She said. Bellamy sighed before Murphy could snap back,

“The safety is on,” he said glancing at the gun. Monty’s brow furrowed and so did Jasper.

“Oh no, I’m not falling for that!” the geek said, squaring his shoulders and meeting Murphy’s eyes.

“No, he’s right,” Clarke chimed in, “The safety is on.”

Jasper blinked and pointed the gun down to look at the side of it. With a quick reflex, Bellamy took the automatic from his hand easily, disarming it and separating the clip.

“Damn it! Clarke!” He whined. She shrugged and turned back to Murphy.

“You armed?” she asked. The hitter rolled his eyes and opened his jacket to show that he had nothing though a very sarcastic gesture within itself.

“No, I don’t need guns, princess.” He replied with a smirk.

A click had them all turning to see a very armed Raven walking towards them, her gun pointed at them. Bellamy had locked the clip back into place but honestly if the thief wanted to kill them, they would be dead and he knew it.

“My money wasn’t in my account. And that pisses me off. Care to explain?” she stood next to Bellamy, bending her arm to point the automatic at the ceiling, their circle was a bit too tight for her arm to be extended and remain a threat.

Clarke slowly reached out to the weapon while Bellamy pointed his gun at the woman,

“That’s why we’re here so give me the gun, Reyes.”

Raven rolled her dark brown eyes and with a hand on her hip and a glare at Bellamy, she handed her gun to Clarke. The blonde was just grateful the only murderer in the group was the one who was unarmed. Thieves didn’t generally kill people with the exception of John Murphy, only because he wasn’t always a thief. The rest of them were just too good at duping the system that they weren’t exactly normal. Just not killers.

Clarke took out the clip, looking at the faces that seemed to bare more distrust than her own. Something in her gut felt off. It was like the tips of her fingers tingled and something was playing at the back of her head that she couldn’t quite pin point. Bellamy watched her, his arms crossed over his broad chest. She tucked the clip into the back of her jeans before handing back Raven her gun.

“So you guys came here to get paid right?” she asked. Monty and Jasper gave her a look of annoyance.

“Transfer of funds,” Jasper said.

“Global economy,” Monty finished.

“Fucking wonder twins, I wasn’t supposed to ever see you people again.” Murphy growled, running his hand through his hair though all it did was fall back to where it was before.

Clarke and Bellamy looked at each other and something seemed to click inside Clarke’s head. Her father always used to tell her to listen to her gut, that logical might be wrong sometimes when instincts have to come into play.

“So you’re all here because you didnt get paid,” she said slowly, looking at each one of their faces. She cracked a smile, “And you’re all angry.”

“Why is she laughing?” Raven whispered to Bellamy. The man ignored her, watching the ex-investigator like a hawk. He might not have always liked the woman but she was good at her job and if she’s laughing in situation costing them $300, 000 than he knew that something was up.

Clarke laughed behind her hand before she spoke again, “I mean, the only way to get us all in the same place, at the same time…”

Her smile fell and her eyes met Bellamy’s as things began to click for him.

“…is to tell us we’re not getting paid,” the thief finished.

There was a silence between them as they each began to understand the gravity of the situation. This was no longer a walk away job, no longer a payment for the dirty work. This was now tying up loose ends. There was a split second, a quiet ‘tick’ echoed in the emptiness of the airbase.

A fire was lit under their heels in seconds, all six of them ran back the way they came, dodging crates and boxes as they went. None stopped to look behind them, Clarkes heart beat in her ears. She honestly knew things like this would happen. Her father would say that bad things happened to bad people, it was in his nature teach his little girl that being good and surrounding herself with good people was to keep her safe.

He was kind of right.

All of them could see the stream of light that shone from under the small garage door. Clarke rand for the control panel first, pressing down on the OPEN button as they all ran toward their salvation. Raven was the smallest so she slid through the small opening easily, Murphy was next followed by Jasper and Monty.

Bellamy ducked underneath with a backward glance at her. She heard another quicker ‘tick’ and couldn’t help but look behind her as she moved under the door. Bright yellow flames, a rush of heat filled her bones with panic. An explosion threw their bodies to the hard concrete with force, debris flew in all directions.

Then everything went black.


	4. The Escape Job

The blonde investigator gasped as she woke, Bellamy and Murphy both looked at her, watching as she shot up right and realized that her wrist was a bit restricted in movement just like the rest of them. She was a bit worse for wear, ash and dirt on her clothes, her blonde curly hair wasn’t as perfect as before yet she still seemed to have that air about her that usually pissed Bellamy off.

“You don’t like hospitals do you, princess?” he commented, watching her try to get her wits about her while figuring out where she was. The handcuff clanked against the metal railing of her hospital bed as she moved to sit on the edge of the bed like himself.

He had situated himself comfortably, feet placed firmly on the ground as he watched and waited for their last person at this party woke up. Murphy sat in a chair off to the other side of her bed, handcuffed as well though looked a lot more pissed off than them.

“Not particularly.” She winced, rolling her shoulders.

“Finally! You’re awake.” A womans voice rang through the room. Clarke looked around confused before her eyes landed on the small vent near the ceiling, “Cops and firemen got there just as we were waking up.”

“Raven?” She asked.

“Adjoining rooms.” Murphy grunted.

“Where are we?” Clarke asked, trying to look around the white walled hospital room. She had seen the inside of hospitals longer than she ever wanted to for the last six months. She knew what she was looking at but the problem wasn’t the inside but what was waiting for them outside. God, she was already thinking like a criminal.

“A county hospital, local cops were the first to respond to the explosion.” Jaspers voice came through the vent as well, obviously they were bit a low on hold cells so they could only spare unused ER rooms

“Have we been processed?” Clarke asked, looking between Bellamy and Murphy. Both men lifted their hands and showed off the black ink on each finger pad. She groaned.

“They’ve been faxed to the state police.” Bellamy said, running a hand through his unruly curls.

“If the statey’s run us, were screwed,” Monty said, his voice was a mix of panic and annoyance echoing through the vent.

“How long?” Raven asked.

“Thirty to thirty-five minutes depending on the software,” Monty replied.

Clarke bit her lip, her brain working as fast as it could. She had never been on the other side of processing. She had brought guys like them, thieves looking to dupe their insurance company, to justice. She watched them get processed. She had never been processed and when all the information came through, it was her who would have a perfect record not them. All because of Shumway.    

“They printed us twenty minutes ago.” Murphy sighed, leaning his head back against the wall.

“So unless we get out of here in ten minutes, we’re all going to jail,” Bellamy growled.

“Well, most of us.” Ravens voice bit through. Clarke rolled her blue eyes at the jab to her own clean slate.

“We’re going to get out of here--” Clarke looked at the handcuff as it jingled at her expense.

“I can take care of the cops,” Murphy said, looking straight at her. She narrowed her eyes at him.

“No killing anyone, don’t ruin my get away,” Bellamy warned. He was never one for killing people unless absolutely necessary. Those moments rarely came as he got better at his skills so he didn’t need Murphy screwing anything up.

“We’re going to get out of here together,” Clarke said sternly, looking at the two men in the room with her. Everyone was quiet for a moment, all listening to her but for different reasons she knew. They didn’t care what she really had in mind or had to say, they were curious of why she cared. The distrust was still on Murphy and Bellamy’s faces.

“I know what you guys can do, I’ve had to clean up your messes and I’ve seen you in action. If we can work together for a heist, we can do it for an escape. Working together is the only way to get out of here,” Clarke set her jaw, her words were clear and without waver. She was not going to let them rot in jail for believing that they were actually helping someone.

A silence took over the two rooms.

“I don’t trust them,” Raven confessed.

Clarke looked up at Bellamy, one of the few people in this mess that actually knew her outside of their one time job, “Do you trust me?” she called back to the girl.

More silence spoke volumes of the thoughts that ran through their heads. They were thieves, they weren’t supposed to trust anyone. Trusting meant they opened themselves up for failure and none of them could afford that in the field.

Murphy smirked, his elbows rested on his knees as he met her eyes,

“Of course, you’re one of the good guys,” he said.

Clarke knew that part of that was sarcasm and a jab at her lack of experience with these things but at this point she didn’t have time to think how he might feel. Not that she particularly cared either.

“Then we need to have a plan. We need to escape in the next ten--”

“I can escape,” Raven called loudly through the open vent.

“Hey some of us are still handcuffed!” Jasper scoffed back. All three of them looked at the vent.

“Who’s not handcuffed?” Bellamy asked.

“Raven.” The two computer geeks called back.

“Raven, can you get me a phone?” Clarke asked, the hope in her eyes and voice had the other men on board. Bellamy knew that Clarke wasn’t one to leave a man behind, she was too good for that. If she had a plan to get out, he knew it involved all of them.

 

Raven spun the useless cuffs around her finger, spacing the room. It was bad enough that she was caught to begin with but now she was placed in a room with the two people who were useless within this ragtag team. Well, useless without a keyboard and monitor. The thief looked over the two men in the room with her, one cuffed to the bed and the other in a chair in the corner. Both looked bored except that it seemed Jasper needed to pee with the way he moved about.

“Raven, can you get me a phone?”

She glared at the vent, her pony tail whipped around at snap of her gaze. She hated when people gave her orders, that’s why she worked alone. But her getaway was hindered by the fact that there were too many witnesses and cops outside the doors. The thief sighed in defeat.

“This is going to suck,” she mumbled before she took the cuff and placed it back on her wrist and to the bedrail again. She sat on the bed while the boys watched her and with two fingers she stuck them down her throat.

“Ah man.”

“Gross.”

It took only a call for the nurse and five minutes of bustling as janitors cleaned the vomit before the doctor, a nurse and several armed county officers were inside the room. Raven laid back in the bed, putting on her best ‘sick’ face as the doctor waited for the thermometer to beep between her lips. Officers stood by the boys, the nurse and doctor had their back to the room as they kept an eye on her.

Mistake one: never turn your back on a thief.

The doctor clicked his tongue as he took the thermometer from her lips, looking at the perfect temperature flashing back at him.

“Well, vomiting could be a result of concussion. We’ll keep you on fluids and keep an eye on you.” The doctor smiled, trying to forget that there were armed officers in the room of criminals. He turned his back to the girl as he gave the nurse the thermometer to get rid of the sanitary film for him. With a smile, he exited the room with everyone else following him out.

With the click of the door, Raven sat up with a smirk. An iPhone between her fingers. Jasper smiled back from his bed, holding up a flip phone. She raised an eyebrow then smiled to show off the handcuff keys between her teeth.

“How? How?” Monty asked from his chair in shock.

“You got them?” Clarke’s voice echoed from the vent.

“Yeah,” Raven called back, taking the keys from her lips to unlock herself before throwing them to Jasper.

“Jasper, I need you to do your thing. Give them a reason to let us out, I need FBI.” Clarke instructed, “Raven pass me a phone I can use.”

Jasper smirked, “Got it.” He held out his hand for the iPhone. Raven threw it at him instead, not bothering to watch him fumble before she stood on the bed and shoved the flip phone through the vent slats.

 

Clarke held out her free hand as she watched the flip phone be pushed through the white vent until it free fell down into her palm. Bellamy watched the way her brow furrowed as she looked through the old phone, watching how her lips were in a line of concentration. She had an air around her, something about her that even made Murphy want to know what exactly was going through that pretty little head of hers.

She looked up at him and caught his gaze, “Their expecting a phone call right?” and she tossed the phone at him.

He caught it and looked down at the screen. With a smirk he pressed SEND and brought the phone to his ear. It only took a couple of rings before it was answered. The nurse quickly handed the phone to the nearest officer outside their door.

_“Deputy Burns.”_

“Yes, this is detective lieutenant Harris of the New York State Police, we got those prints you sent us. They’re sending up all kinds of red flags. I have someone on the line for you from the FBI up there in Washington, can you hold, son?” he put on his Midwest accent as he spoke.

Despite what most people would think to overstated or cliché, most marks like to believe clichés. It made their mundane life interesting, especially cops.

_“Uh, yes of course.”_

Bellamy looked over at Murphy before throwing him the phone. The man caught it and placed it up to his ear, his face had a serious look as he waited a moment before speaking.

“Deputy Burns, this is deputy director Johnson from the FBI, is our man alright?”

_“Sorry, sir, I don’t follow--”_

“Deputy, listen to me, the man you have in there is one of ours actually. He’s been deep undercover for three years now.”

_“Seriously?”_

Murphy rolled his eyes, “Yes, that’s correct. You should be receiving a fax any moment now confirming what I’m telling you.”

There was a faint rustling on the line and the sound of a high five in the other room making Clarke smile like the cat that caught the canary.

“Most of what I have told you is classified,” Murphy said, his voice patriotically laced with sternness, “I need to know that I can trust you. Can I?”

 _“Yes, sir.”_ Murphy could hear the pride in the deputy’s voice and he gave a nod to Clarke.

It took no time at all for them to be outside the hospital, loading up a borrowed county police SUV. The cops stood to the side just outside the hospital doors as Jasper led each ‘apprehended criminal’ into the car. It was a tight fit but the county cops were eager to give the young FBI agent a helping hand getting them all inside the caged back.

Jasper led Murphy to the right side of the car, hand on his head as he guided him into the vehicle. The hitter’s head slammed into the edge of the door way, making the man growl. His glare was furious yet he kept his mouth shut for the sake of the job.

“Walk it off, w-walk it off.” Jasper said putting him into the car and closing the door. The geek turned to the officers and gave them a sloppy salute that they returned with vigor.

“You, men, are the backbone of the country.” Jasper said with a nod before opening the door of the driver’s side.

The sliding doors of the hospital opened as a dark haired nurse walked out towards the proud officers.

“Sir, the state police are on the phone,” she said.

The deputy and his partner had no time to react as the county SUV pulled out of the parking lot.

 

Bellamy was sure he had never had such a close encounter with the cops or ever run faster from a rather terrible situation. The last thing he needed was to be put behind bars and have to find a way to pay for his sister’s college while doing time. All of them spread out around the rather spacious loft, everything was expensive from the hard wood floors to the flat screen TV’s and sound system set up. It was on the tenth floor so the windows were large and over looked the city, letting in the light of the setting sun.

“Six four class tickets to anywhere but here, coming right up.” Jasper said, splitting from Monty as the hacker headed straight for the long desk decorated with three flat screen monitors connected to a sleek black keyboard.

“Who’s place is this?” Raven asked, running her hand over the Italian leather couch.

Jasper smirked, “Ours.” Both dorks high fived their own hands before Jasper pulled out his own laptop from the glass coffee table.  

“I’m going to beat Shumway so bad even the people who look like him are going to bleed.” Murphy rubbed his fists, not bothering to sit down or stop moving in his volatile anger. Bellamy leaned against the couch, crossing his arms over his dirt spattered black shirt. They were all filthy but they couldn’t go back to their homes, not with the cops out for them.

“Good luck with that. He knows our faces, you won’t be able to get within a hundred yards of him.” Raven countered sitting down on the edge of the pool table set up by one of the windows. Bellamy glared at her,

“He tried to kill us.” He countered.

“More importantly, he didn’t pay us,” Murphy mumbled. Raven and Jasper looked at him with the same confused face. Bellamy ran a hand down his face in exasperation.

“How is that more important?” he scowled.

“I take that personally.” Murphy slammed his fist into the wall, watching the plaster give way.

“Hey!” Jasper yelled while Bellamy only shook his head,

 “There’s something wrong with you.”

“Hey guys,” Monty called, Clarke was stationed over his shoulder at the sites he had pulled up on the monitors, “Look, Shumway was at least half way honest. He is the head of aerospace company and is a big rival of Kingsley. But check out what my web crawler caught.”

The middle monitor pulled up a news video, a dark haired man wearing shades and a suit was in the forefront of media.

_“We’ve lost research we have been working on for over five years. Our servers have been sabotaged. We will pursue these perpetrators to the full extent of the law and with all the resources we have at our disposal…”_

Bellamy walked up on the other side of Monty and shrugged, “Could be a cover story.”

Monty shook his head and pulled up a series of code on the third monitor, scrolling through the window of numbers, “The copy code is time stamped, 2009…2010…way down into the code. There’s no reason to fake those.”

The hacker glanced up at Bellamy before shifting his gaze to Clarke who had been silent since they had walked in. Bellamy noticed the stiffness of her shoulders, the way her head tilted down in thought and her forehead held lines in them. Monty felt the same, looking to the woman who knew more about the law than the rest of them only because she was obviously on the wrong side of the tracks.

“So we didn’t steal back the designs?” Murphy said, annoyance written all over his raised upper lip.

“No, we just stole them,” Raven replied with a huff, her feet swung off the floor.

“Why would Shumway lie to us?” Monty asked.

Clarke sighed, “Because you’re thieves.”

All eyes were on her again.

“If he hired you for a straight up crime, you’d know he was a bad guy like you. You’d be on to him. This way you just saw him as another citizen in over his head and you never saw the double cross,” Clarke explained. She moved to the left, leaning into Bellamy’s space, to take a better look at the article Monty had pulled up.

“Then how come you didn’t see it coming?” Raven asked with a sneer.

Clarke glanced back at her, “Like I said before, I’m not a thief.”

Murphy frowned and stalked toward her, “Maybe that’s the problem, maybe you--”

Bellamy moved in his way, holding out his hand to the man’s chest. He might not always like the blonde but he would be damned if he let this guy lay a hand on her with her back turned. She got them out of this mess when she had no threat of going to jail herself. They owed her one, Murphy was no exception.

“Hey, cool it guys,” Jasper said, leaping over the couch and toward the active printer. He grabbed the papers he had sent from his laptop and began to hand them out, “Tickets to Paris, Rome, Istanbul, London and Sydney. All fake identities, all crossed with social securities and--”

“You’re running,” Clarke said, her eyes on the article still, her hands braced on the desk.

All of them looked up from their tickets to her, Jasper still holding out hers to the air.

“Yeah you have a better idea, princess?” Bellamy countered.

“No, you’re running,” she mumbled, eyes scanning the screen clicking on the market article ‘Ark Aerospace showing gains this quarter’. “That was a high risk move. You have all your eggs in the stock price. A shareholder meeting coming up.”

Bellamy moved next to her, reading the article as she was. Clarke looked over at him, the conviction in her eyes made something close to a shiver got down his back as well as a stone of trepidation sink in his stomach. He had seen that look before. That look was dangerous.

 “We can’t let this guy cool down,” Clarke said.

“You want to run a game on this guy?” Murphy asked, his disbelief obvious in his eyes, “You, _princess_?”

Clarke turned away from the monitors, meeting the man’s hard stare,

“How do you think I got most of my stolen merchandise back? This guy is greedy, thinks he’s smart. He’s the best kind of mark.” Clarke placed her hands on her hips, staring the ex-marine down without a hint of doubt in herself.

“He does think he got rid of us.” Raven smirked looking at the others.

“Element of surprise,” Monty grinned from his chair.

“What’s in it for me?” Bellamy asked, looking Clarke up and down. She let a smile play at the corner of her lips, a challenge in those blue depths that held his gaze. He remembered this Clarke Griffin in Budapest, the one who dressed like a queen and commanded a room without fail for a simple piece of art he had hid under his coat. He learned not to underestimate her years ago.

“Pay back and if it goes right, a lot of money,” she said.

“What about me?” Murphy chimed in. The ex-insurance investigator turned to him and shrugged,

“A lot of money and if it goes right, pay back,” She replied. She saw the smirk on his face and knew that she had him.

“Jasper? Monty?” she asked. They looked at each other before turning back to her.

“I was just going to send thousands of porno magazines to his office, but yeah,” Jasper grinned.

“We’re in.” Monty finished.

Bellamy caught her arm, turning her around to face him directly, “What’s in it for you?”

Clarke looked into his dark eyes, letting the memories flood the walls she had put up in the last couple of weeks.

 

_“Dad!” Fists slammed against the locked glass doors of the ICU, “Daddy!”_

_“We’re losing him!”_

_“Heart rate is dropping!”_

_“Daddy!”_

 

Bellamy watched her close her eyes after they had glazed over for a moment. She righted herself, pulling her arm from his grip without much of a fight on his part.

“He used my father,” she said softly.

Everyone looked from him to her, unsure on what was going on or what they were missing. Clarke looked at them and took a deep breath before fixing her blazer and walking towards the door,

“Let’s go steal us an aerospace company.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Review please! I love reviews.


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